


Luck loves a loser

by cattyv



Series: It’s a Long Road to Travel [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Kissing, M/M, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25571242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cattyv/pseuds/cattyv
Summary: Bucky Barnes has had a rough few years but starting his new job with his uncle is a step forward. He could do without bumping into a familiar face on his first night there.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers
Series: It’s a Long Road to Travel [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853137
Comments: 1
Kudos: 52





	Luck loves a loser

Bucky smelt food as he entered Logan’s apartment. Logan turned to look him up and down. ‘Shower first’, he said before turning back to the pan.  
Bucky didn’t argue, he felt gross from the night before, the dancing and the sex. He also felt a little cheap after the way Roger had basically kicked him out, and he wondered if he could shower that off too.  
Feeling better once he was clean he sat across from Logan and there was silence as they both ate the crispy bacon and scrambled eggs. Logan had always been a man of few words, and that suited Bucky who didn’t like to talk about things most of the time.  
After breakfast they went downstairs to Logan’s bar, imaginatively called ‘Logan’s’ and Bucky started learning what his new job would entail. Logan showed him how to use the register, how to pour a beer, mix a few drinks, and before he know it it was 12 and time to open. The bar was next to a large office block and the workers made up most of the lunchtime and after work clientele. Bucky felt a million miles away from the neatly turned out folk, most in suits with a phone pressed to those ear or chatting animatedly about work with their colleagues. Logan mostly ran the kitchen and Natasha took the orders so Bucky only had to deal with the customers who approached the bar. It was a relatively quiet shift to ease him into things and despite a few small mistakes he thought things went pretty well. He smiled and flirted with the women, some of the guys too if they looked like they wouldn’t mind, and earned a few tips. It wasn’t what Bucky had planned to be doing at 21 but he couldn’t complain. He was safe living with Logan, working here. The last time he’d lived here he was 15 when he arrived and those two years were some of the best he’d ever had. When Logan had been told Bucky couldn’t stay, when they said Bucky would be better off with a foster family, a real home instead of his single uncle who owned a bar, it had hit them both hard. Logan was gruff and a mean son of a bitch, but he was the best father figure Bucky ever knew. Then he’d had a year of living with that awful family, and he’d met Brock and been so desperate to get out he barely thought about what he was doing, moving in with the older man so quickly. He was looking for safely, love and that’s what Brock offered, or seemed to. It didn’t take long for the jealousy and the anger to show, and eventually the violence, but by then Bucky didn’t know how to get out. He was too ashamed to call Logan, he hadn’t even spoken to him, angry at him for letting him leave, and he had no other family. Brock had phased out all his friends and Bucky felt totally alone. It was only one night, one night where Brock took things to another level, where Bucky screamed ‘no’ and ‘stop’ and Brock didn’t, that he broke. Brock had never done that before. He’d been pushed, punched, and kicked but even when it was rough the sex had always been consensual. That night when Brock left for his night shift Bucky somehow found the strength to pack and get out. He called Logan at the bar, unable to do more than cry down the phone at first, but Logan came and got him. He didn’t ask questions about the bruises, he didn’t offer sympathy he just took him home and made him feel safe and wanted.  
Bucky was 20 when he arrived back at Logan’s and now that he was 21 he was finally able to work there too. He’d reconnected with a few friends and formed a quick and close friendship with Natasha. She practically ran the front of house at Logan’s, she didn’t take any crap from anybody and if he was straight Bucky was sure he’d be in love with her. She was beautiful, confident and once she let her guard down around him, trusting and loyal. She was the only one who knew everything about Brock, including that last night, and how bad his last foster family had been. She was second generation Russian too and had grown up with parents who were rich but distant and she probably understood him better than anyone Bucky had ever met. Over late night drinks and hungover movie Sundays they shared details of their pasts and sometimes their hopes for the future. Natasha taught dance on top of working and hoped to save enough to start her own academy one day. Bucky dreamed of college. He’d done incredibly well in high school, graduating with top marks because his foster father was strict and ruthless when it came to studying. He’d been with Brock when he should have been applying for college, and Brock told him he didn’t need it. Brock would look after him, why did he need to go? Did he want to go so he could meet other guys? At the time it made sense to give up, to resign himself to looking after Brock and staying home but god he wished he’d known Natasha then. She would have given him the confidence to go, to stand up and seize what he wanted with both hands. Now Bucky was working he was saving up everything he could and hoping to start studying in a year or two. 

The bar finally quiet after the lunchtime rush, Natasha lent across the bar and fixed Bucky with a look.  
‘Someone had a good time last night I think’, she said, looking sure of herself.  
Bucky smiled, ‘Is it that obvious?’  
‘You look happier’, she said, ‘more relaxed. So who was the guy?’  
‘He was gorgeous Nat, blonde, tall, muscles but still slim, not like a body builder.’  
‘And the sex?’ She asked, Nat was never one to shy away from a topic.  
‘Amazing, so so good.’  
Natasha leaned closer, ‘So, when are you seeing him again?’  
‘It’s not like that’, Bucky replied, ‘it was one night. Sure, I’d happily see him again but he was very clear it was a one off. Shame really, I wouldn’t have minded getting to know Roger a little better.’  
‘Roger huh? What an old man name’, she snorted. ‘You do always pick them old. Seriously though James, I’m happy you can at least start to think about a relationship again. I think you’ve had enough one night stands to last you.’  
‘Stop slut shaming me’, Bucky teased. He looked at her more seriously for a second and took her hand, ‘Thanks though. Yeah, I think I’m ready to try if the right person comes along.’  
Just then Logan shouted at them to stop holding a damn tea party and to do some real work and they both snapped to it.  
The afternoon was quiet and Bucky kept himself busy cleaning and singing along to the radio until the bar started to pick up again around five. Logan left Luis and Scott in the kitchen to help man the bar and keep up with the influx of workers desperate for an after work beer. They settled into a rhythm and Bucky found himself enjoying the work.  
A sharply dressed man of about forty with a goatee and colored glasses that should look ridiculous but somehow didn’t sat at the bar and called to Logan, ‘About time you got us some eye candy in here’, he said, casting Bucky a flirtatious look. Bucky played along, sending back a smile and a wink.  
‘Behave Tony’, said Logan, ‘he’s just a kid and he’s my nephew. Off limits.’  
Tony nodded in agreement but sent Bucky a look that said he didn’t agree to those limits.  
Bucky grinned to himself, a bit of harmless flirting could mean better tips and at worst it was a nice confidence boost. The guy was older but immaculately turned out, his figure slim and his suit cut to show it off.  
Tony ordered three beers from Bucky, ‘my friends are just behind me’, he said. ‘Can I get one for you too...?’  
‘Bucky’, he supplied, ‘sure, I’ll take one for later if that’s okay.’  
‘No problem Bucky babe’, Tony said. Tony looked around as his friends arrived, a pretty blonde woman and a tall blonde man, both dressed in suits. Bucky looked again. The blonde guy, he was clean shaven and wearing glasses but it was definitely Roger. He looked almost unrecognizable like this, but those eyes and those shoulders would always stand out. Roger had his arm around the woman and pressed a kiss to her cheek as they sat next to Tony at the bar. Bucky looked away, hoping he wouldn’t be spotted, but there was nowhere to hide. He heard Tony greeting them and when he called Bucky over he couldn’t think of a reason not to go. Okay, he told himself, you can do this. Calm, cool, collected.  
‘Bucky babe, these are my friends Steve and Sharon. This, my friends, is the beautiful Bucky. Somehow a creature this stunning shares genes with Logan over there. Genetics is crazy.’  
Tony’s over the top compliments gave Bucky a reason for his pink cheeks as he said hello. Roger - no, Steve, looked blank, as if his brain had shut down. The others didn’t seem to notice as they got through their first beers quickly and Bucky could hear Tony chattering away as he went back to serve some new customers.  
Bucky could feel Steve glancing over and he was glad to be genuinely busy behind the bar. When he did look round they were no longer there and Bucky felt himself relax.  
It was a week night and things tapered off early, around eleven. That was was when he realised that Tony, Sharon and Steve had moved to a booth for dinner and more drinks. Now it was quiet Tony came back and lent against the bar, Sharon and Steve sat beside him quietly talking to each other. Logan was in the kitchen and Natasha was chatting with a group of girls at the biggest table.  
Tony was a little tipsy, ‘Bucky, my Bucky’, he began, ‘go out with me? Or come home with me? Or both?’ He laughed to himself.  
Sharon reached over, ‘Come on Tony let him be. He’s far too young for you anyway.’  
Tony faked a gasp, ‘Is it true? Bucky say it isn’t so!’ he exclaimed dramatically.  
Bucky couldn’t help but laugh, ‘I’m not sure I’m looking to date right now Tony’, he said, ‘besides, I think Uncle Logan would have a few things to say about it.’  
Tony wasn’t put off, ‘I won’t tell. Sharon, would you tell?’ She smiled and shook her head. Tony turned to Steve, ‘Steve, would you tell? I know you’re all about truth and justice and the American Way, but you wouldn’t turn us in would you? You wouldn’t get in the way of true love?’  
Sharon collapsed into giggles along with Tony, Steve was smiling but it felt false. ‘Sure, I wouldn’t say a peep’, Steve said. Tony copied the peep and laughed even harder.  
Bucky grinned, glad Tony made it easy for him to ignore Steve. ‘As it happens though Doll’, Bucky drawled, ‘I have no problem with your age.’  
Tony smiled, delighted at this pronouncement.  
Sharon, although giggly, was the sober one and stood up. ‘I’m going to get the car’, she said, ‘meet you out front in ten’.  
As she left Tony excused himself to the bathroom leaving Steve alone with Bucky.  
Bucky concentrated on wiping a clean bit of the bar in front of him. Steve swayed, clearly drunk. He moved his hand as if to stop him but pulled back at the last minute. ‘I’m sorry’, he muttered, ‘this wasn’t meant to happen’.  
‘Oh really Roger?’, Bucky spat back in a low voice, ‘sorry this didn’t all go to plan. Does Sharon know?’ Steve shook his head. ‘Fuck’, said Bucky, ‘why did this have to be your local bar?’  
‘I was never supposed to see you again’, Steve said. ‘Maybe you could work somewhere else?’  
‘Fuck you Roger’, Bucky hissed, ‘this is my job. I’m not leaving because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.’  
‘You’re so pretty Bucky. Why did you have to be nice and pretty and funny.’  
Bucky sighed and turned away. It was so unfair.  
Tony was back to hear the sigh and picked up on the tense silence when he returned. ‘What’s up guys? Why the sad faces? Did something happen?’  
Bucky decided to change the subject before drunk Steve could say anything stupid. ‘Maybe I just missed you, handsome’, he said, looking at Tony through his eyelashes. Tony smiled wide and lent across the bar. His face was inches away from Bucky. ‘Is that so gorgeous? Allow me to help with that.’ Bucky leaned even closer. ‘And just how will you do that?’ He asked.  
Tony pushed up from his bar stool to place a soft peck on Bucky’s lips. ‘That okay?’, he asked softly, pulling back.  
Bucky pulled Tony in again to kiss him properly, their mouths opening up to each other. He heard Steve stand up from his stool but he didn’t break the kiss, it was a nice harmless distraction and Tony kissed like a dream. He was just getting into it when a loud noise made them both jump apart. Logan stood there with his arms folded.  
‘What did I tell you Tony? And you kid, what are you playing at?’  
Tony backed away but blew Bucky a kiss, ‘until next time Sugar Lips’, and dragging Steve behind him left the bar laughing and joking.


End file.
